The Northern Region of Ghana has over the years produced a good number of football legends, whose unimaginable contributions to development of football at both the local and national levels cannot be underestimated.
Some of these great players including the Maestro Abedi Ayew Pele who captained the Senior National Team the Black Stars for almost a decade, and also became three times African Best Player, Malik Jabil, Abdul Razak “the Golden Boy”, Mohammed Gargo and Ibrahim Sunday among others, were seen during their days as icons of Ghana Football and they indeed fought hard at club and national team levels and even in Africa to raise the name and the flag of Ghana high.
Commendably, apart from Abedi Ayew Pele, the rest of the players mentioned above are still rendering good services to this nation, as almost all of them have now turned to be coaches of the various Premier Teams in Ghana.
However, Savannahnews has discovered the young and talented footballer and midfield dynamos- Hamza Mohammed who now plays for the Kumasi based Premier Club, Kingfaisal Football Club, as one outstanding player whose contributions and commitment to local clubs and the national teams require much commendation.
Even though it is very typical of Ghanaians not to keep vital records of great personalities and important events, this paper has been able to pick some little information about Hamza Mohammed from his direct senior brother, Iddi Mohammed, who is currently a management member of the Tamale based Real Tamale United (RTU), as the Welfare Officer.
Iddi Mohammed told this paper that he is very proud of his brother Hamza Mohammed and would salute him a thousand times, anytime he gets the opportunity to talk about his (Hamza’s) achievements and contribution to development of football in Ghana.
Brief Profile: Hamza Mohammed known by most football fans as “Capito” is now 30 years old and true native of Dagbon, one of the four great kingdoms in the Northern Region of Ghana.
His parents are Alhaji Mohammed Pele, a former player of Gbewaa United and Hajia Martha Mohammed also a football fan.
Hamza Mohammed is a past student of Kalpohin Junior Secondary School and Tamale Senior Secondary School (TAMASCO) all in Tamale. Hamza is married to Mrs. Mercy Hamza and has two kids.
He has five other siblings including Iddi Mohammed, who was also footballer and played for RTU in Tamale, Xi Wise in Western Region and Ankarachu in Turkey in 2000 and 2002, followed by Mohammed Abdul Wahid, former Captain of Liberty Professionals and three other sisters.
Even though Hamza is not the first child of his parents, his name seems to have overshadowed the name of any member of the family, according to his senior brother Iddi Mohammed. He described Hamza as a very respectful, humble, God fearing, generous, kind hearted and just person.
Football Career: Hamza Mohammed started his football trade in somewhere 1994 with Real Republicans, a juvenile soccer academy in Tamale and later joined the Real Tamale United (RTU) in 1996.
Whiles with RTU, Hamza was selected among players like Laryea Kingston, Godwin Attram and Goalkeeper Osei Boateng to join the National U-15 at the Wineba Sports Academy in 1996. He was then picked as the Deputy Captain of the National U-17 team for the 1997 U-17 World Cup in Egypt which Ghana placed second.
In 1999, Hamza Mohammed again captained the National U-20 team for the African Youth Championship which Ghana won the trophy. In the same year (1999), the midfield dynamos captained the U-20 team for the World Youth Championship in Nigeria which Ghana was eliminated by Spain in the quarter final stage. He also led the U-23 team for the 2000 Olympics qualifiers, which Ghana did not qualify.
On the other hand, his vast experience and excellent football display also earned him a position in the Senior National Team, the Black Stars and played for the nation in the CAN 2002 championship in Mali, and the CAN 2006 in Egypt.
Hamza Mohammed also played all the 2006 World Cup Qualifiers but was dropped from the squad during the World Cup, which brought about some public criticisms.
Local Teams Played: He played for the Real Tamale United for 8 years before joining Kumasi Asante Kotoko, from there he moved to Kumasi Kingfaisal and later joined Accra Hearts of Oak and finally made a U-turn to Kingfaisal after playing a Romanian Premier side FC Cealaua in 2008/2009.
Private Achievements: This is one particular area of success Savannahnews has much interest. Simply because, Ghana as a nation seems to have produced a lot of talented footballers and other sports men, but majority of them after their careers turn to become liabilities to their families.
In spite of the huge sums of money most of these footballers attract from their signing on and transfers from one club to another, they always seem to have difficulties in surviving during their retiring ages.
Conversely, Hamza Mohammed to a very large extent is prepared to retire from his football career with some high level of dignity and pride.
As a private man, Hamza has been able to build three big houses including a 12 bed room compound house for renting at Zogbeli-Lamakara in Tamale, a four master bedroom self contained at Foe near SSNIT flats in Tamale and another uncompleted huge building also at Foe near SSNIT flats.
He has also bought a Self-contain at Pataase in the Kumasi Metropolis. Hamza Mohammed according to his Senior Brother, Iddi Mohammed has also acquired 7 different undeveloped plots for future investment and development at different locations in Tamale.
He also has for himself, a nice saloon car which clearly befits a standard of a modern footballer. As he a found of always trying to make someone or people around him feel very happy, Hamza Mohammed is believed to have helped most of his family members, close allies and other members of the society especially children of school going ages.
The Senior brother hinted that Hamza Mohammed who is currently in the camps of Kumasi Kingfaisal, is still aiming to take his favourite position in the Senior National Team the Black Stars before going on retirement in the next five or six years.
He said he will not be surprised to see his brother Hamza becoming a football coach one day, since his passion for football is too enormous.
By Edmond Gyebi
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